The Patriotism of Dissent
Rev. Tim Temerson
UU Church of Akron
July 7, 2013
About 10 years ago, when I was serving as the chair of the Social Action Committee at the UU
congregation in Massachusetts I attended before I became a minister and before we moved to Akron, I
helped organize a public forum at our church on the recently declared war in Iraq. We co-sponsored the
forum with several other local congregations and the forum featured several prominent critics of the war.
One of those critics was Dr. Randall Forsberg. Randy Forsberg, who passed away from cancer
several years ago, was an expert on issues of war and peace and a leading proponent of nuclear arms
control. She founded a think tank dedicated to arms control and disarmament, was the recipient of a
prestigious MacArther genius grant, and in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Randy Forsberg singlehandedly conceived of and then helped launch the nuclear freeze movement. And Randy’s extraordinary
commitment to peace and justice was evident in the months leading up to the Iraq War when she
launched a write-in campaign against then Massachusetts Senator John Kerry in protest over his support
of the war. Although she declared her candidacy only two weeks before Election Day, Randy received a
very impressive 22,000 votes.
Although I had never met Randy prior to the day of the forum, I had always felt a certain kinship to
her. You see, Randy received her doctorate from the National Security Studies program at MIT, the same
program I had attended at one time. Although our paths had never crossed at MIT and she had finished
her studies long before I had begun mine, Randy’s name and work were still well known and frequently
discussed at MIT.
The day of the forum, I remember feeling excited to finally meet Randy and to hear what she had to
say. But I also remember feeling a bit apprehensive – apprehensive about how the forum would turn out
given some mail we had received at the church during the prior week.
You see, as publicity about the forum had begun appearing in the local press, a few angry letters
started coming our way. Most of the letters were critical of the church for hosting a forum against the war
while the war was still going on. We were told that the time for protest was over and that we should fall in
line behind our troops and our president.
While most of the letters were addressed to the church or to the Social Action Committee, one had
Randy’s name on it. As she and I chatted before the forum, I gave her the letter. Randy read it and then
handed it to me.
From her reaction to the letter, I could see that Randy had received similar letters in the past. She
didn’t seem bothered by the terrible names the letter writer called her, names like “traitor” and “enemy
lover” or the suggestions that she should be imprisoned or “worse” for speaking out against the war and
for undermining our troops in the field. And of course, the letter writer made sure to tell Randy that she
obviously hated America and that she was “unpatriotic.”
While Randy took the letter in stride, I felt angry and embarrassed. How could someone say such
terrible things about a person who had dedicated her life to making our country and our world more
peaceful and more just? While the letter writer might disagree with Randy’s ideas, why did he or she (not
surprisingly the write did not sign their name) have to question her character, her loyalty, and her
patriotism?
The answer, of course, is that so often, patriotism is used to demean, to stifle dissent, to justify an
unjust status quo, and to wrap oneself and one’s own country in a flag of superiority, arrogance, and selfrighteousness. To paraphrase the 18th century writer Samuel Johnson, patriotism, as it is usually
understood and utilized, is truly “the last refuge of scoundrels.”
And yet, I don’t think patriotism has to be this way. I want to make the case that there is another
patriotism – a patriotism that is open-minded and open-hearted, self-critical without being self-righteous,
and dedicated to bringing out the best in one’s country and in building a nation and a world of freedom
and justice and peace for all. And that patriotism, that love of and devotion to country – is the patriotism of
the Declaration of Independence, of Frederick Douglass and the Abolitionists, of the Women’s Rights and
Civil rights movements, and the patriotism of people like Randy Forsberg and all who have struggled for a
more just and peaceful world.
And that open-minded, self-critical patriotism – a patriotism that is always reaching beyond who we
are today to who we ought to become in the future – that patriotism is written into the founding document
our nation – the Declaration of Independence.
I must say that I’m always amazed when people like the author of that hateful letter hurl words like
“unpatriotic” at people who dissent from the status quo in pursuit of values like freedom and justice since
this country was founded on dissent from an unjust status quo and in the name of just those values. Think
for a moment about the delegates who gathered in Philadelphia in 1776. They were engaged in dissent, in
treason, in an act of rebellion that could hardly be described as patriotic if patriotism is understood to be
unquestioning and uncritical love and devotion to one’s country.
But Jefferson, Adams, Franklin and the other members of the Continental Congress reached
beyond an unjust status quo to affirm a vision of society and of the world that was timeless and universal.
We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men (all people) are created equal and that they are
endowed by virtue of their humanity with the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
What a vision, what an affirmation of universal rights and human dignity! In breaking free from the
tyranny and oppression of British rule, the founders did not offer a justification for independence rooted
simply in the grievances of their particular moment and situation. Rather, they offered a vision that opens
the door of life, liberty, and happiness to all – a vision that the late UU minister Forrest Church calls “the
American Creed.”
Of course, as Frederick Douglass reminds us so powerfully, we as a nation have not lived up to
that extraordinary vision and that extraordinary creed. Too often, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness
have been for some, not for all. We celebrated freedom while millions were held in chains and then
oppressed by the injustice of Jim Crow and separate but equal. We cheered the greatness of our
democracy while denying the vote to women and countless others. And we have denied basic rights and
freedoms, including the freedom to marry, to gay and lesbian brothers and sisters.
And it is that gap between the vision and values found in the Declaration of Independence and the
realities of an unjust status quo that make dissent and protest so essential and yes, so patriotic. In many
ways, I think the over-arching theme of our nation’s history has been the struggle to close that gap, a
struggle, as Dr. King said so well, to live out the true meaning of our creed.
And it is that struggle to live out the American creed of freedom and equality for all that I believe
marks the greatness of our nation. I love my country because we have a beautiful vision of humankind that
challenges us to build a society and a world of freedom, justice, and equality. And I love my country
because our failures to live up to that vision give rise to the dissent and criticism we need to point us in the
direction of greater justice, greater freedom, and greater equality for all.
Dr. King once said that “the greatness of America is the right to protest for right.” And I would
simply add that the right and the duty to protest for right are at the heart of the patriotism embodied in the
Declaration of Independence. And that is the patriotism we need as you and I and this church community
play our part in that glorious struggle to help our nation live out the true meaning of its creed. That is a
struggle worthy of our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.
Thank you for listening and blessed be.